


Chivalrous

by wordsmithgoldsmith



Series: The Irraelian Trilogy [1]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Medieval, F/M, Fantasy, Novel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-07-13
Updated: 2013-07-13
Packaged: 2017-12-19 08:49:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 12,821
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/881823
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wordsmithgoldsmith/pseuds/wordsmithgoldsmith
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Imagine a world where there are two kinds of humans. People like you and me, and another kind. These people are called Deallans. They look and act and mingle with everyone else without and difference, but they have one big difference. They can become one with weapons and other objects and give those things amazing powers. This is the world where our hero, Tysen, lives.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> The Chapters are off because it won't show the prologue as separate.

Prologue

 

A lone figure ran through the forest. In the area on the other side of the tree line, a house burned in the distance. Swiftly and assuredly, the man swept through the forest like water, leaping obstacles and winding through trees as smoothly as a liquid snake. Shadows flickered at the edge of the bonfire that once stood as a residence. There were four of them visible from the runner’s perspective. They disappeared as they en-tered the tree line and that meant pursuit. The figure seemed to multiply in midstride and while one continued on along the path he initially set the other changed direction, heading southwest, using the edge of the forest as a guide.

 

The forest bordered the western edge of the city of Rayll, the capital of Irraelia, a country on a large peninsula in the continent of Reilan. For half of a candlemark the fig-ure ran and eventually came into a clearing that was framed by a tall cliff on one side. On the opposite end was a large river, whose source was an underground tributary that was tapped under the cliff. It only came out on the other side of the clearing because of an ill thought out and poorly planned attempt at damming the river.

 

The figure, James Carraln, Irraelia’s best Chevalier in over four hundred years, though he wasn’t to know it, reached the top of the cliff and searched the surrounding area for his pursuers. Under his arm he carried a long crate with obvious care, the con-tainer was a little over three quarters of a fathom in length and was two hand spans in width and depth. Satisfied that he had the time required James began to bury the chest under the roots of a weeping willow at the crest of the cliff that, legend said, had lived for twelve hundred years. After it was buried and the earth over and around the crate’s resting place was suitably disguised he sat for a moment and thought, ironically, about what would have been treasure, had anyone else known what it was, that he had just buried, seeing as he was always such a critic of stories and fables about lost or buried treasure. He sat for a moment longer, chuckling at his folly, and stood.

 

The chest he had just entombed was a variation of the Core’s trademark contain-ment unit, which is usually a standard cube shape and only comes in different sizes. The crates are meant to keep anything put in from coming back out again unless the Aura shield is undone using a series of Aura frequencies or special conditions that can be given to the box by whoever crated the shield. This chest, however, was designed to leave a special surprise for anyone who tried to open it.

 

He buried the chest in the middle of the clearing where he spent much of his life in, contemplating the country’s wellbeing. This time he didn’t sit in his favorite spot by the river source of the great Hylla, the river that, because of its great size has often been referred to as the Dragon of Irraelia.

 

He had to put it away, keep it safe, no one can get their hands on the Sword of the Dragon, at least, none of the lapdogs that had come after him. It never occurred to James that the Order of Emerald Lions would make such a direct attempt to steal the Sword, and so soon after the return of the twin prince and princess from their five year quest, training under the mountains to the far south in the Irraelian border town of Crayne. He never thought that Sierrn’s king, Sen-Jall or, more importantly, his puppet master of a queen, Mirana, would be so bold as to send the Order, the Sierrnan crown’s personal task force designed to carry out the king’s personal agenda, directly to the pal-ace to steal it. He found it especially curious since the palace Guard had been rein-forced with a thousand troops heralding the arrival of the Twins return.

 

The head of the Order, Kayl, was even leading the pursuit. Even without Kayl there he wouldn’t be able to fight off all of the Order’s fifteen members, which means that James was never meant to escape this alive. He was so careful. How did they find out where and who had the Sword in the first place? There was a spy in the palace who knows a lot more than they should or perhaps Mirana somehow found a way to bribe a member of the Advisory, either way this conspiracy went far deeper than he had origi-nally expected. Either way he was going to have to make a stand so that they wouldn’t discover the hiding place of the Sword.

 

“Dan-Kon, are you there?” James asked into the night.

 

“I’m never more than a breath away, old friend,” the stocky Deallan said in his rum-bling baritone as he misted into view. James always marveled at the strange sub-species of humans. Their bodies develop abilities based on their personalities and can integrate themselves into any object and use those abilities to enhance the object they integrate with. It’s with the Deallans assistance that makes the Chevaliers, Irraelian or otherwise, such a force to be reckoned with. And when the Deallans grow and mature, their abilities and transformation become stronger and the more compatible with their partner and his weapon or tool the Deallan is.

 

The bond between partners never ceases to amaze me, thought James.

 

“Something’s coming,” Dan-Kon said, for both James’ benefit as well as his.

 

“Well, I guess it’s about time we gave them a decent reception then,” James said, his usually contented grin taking on a more feral look.

 

“It will be the perfect way to help them remember why they fear our strength,” Dan-Kon said. His baritone already becoming wispy as he integrated with the twin swords, made famous from the pair’s legacy as partners.

 

The last things seen or heard that night was a giant flash of orange -yellow light fol-lowed by the dull roar of an explosion.

 



The crack of the teacher’s indicator slapping the desk startled Tysen out of his nap with enough force that when he sat up he fell out of his seat. A wave of laughter erupted throughout the classroom as Ty, as he is more often called, got up red-faced and hu-miliated in front of all of his classmates. “Now, I suggest that all of you get back to your work, and Tysen,” said Mr. Kalan, “visit the dream kingdom on your own time,” which inspired another round of laughter from the students, at the mention of the old nursery tale.

 

Tysen, in truth had been up since four in the morning trying to perfect his integration exam technique that was supposed to learn for his acceptance into the Core. Being a foster child, Tysen had seen more than his share of hardships and wanted to help peo-ple, like his real parents, as a member of the Core. He had learned only two years ear-lier that they were a Deallan two-man team that was in service of the Chevalier’s Core. They had been a famous team, not so much for their strength as a team in the Core but because of the story of how they fell in love. His parents, being from separate barracks in the training exam in the Core who were known to have an ongoing feud because of an old grudge between two other Core members that had spread though the two bar-racks and somehow perpetuated through the new recruits every year. The two had been in a few fights with each other. By the time they had been assigned to each other as partners they absolutely hated each other, but came to an uneasy truce to keep their fighting to a minimum while they were on the job.

 

Eventually they fell in love, which was unheard of, since any grudges between the Northeastern and Southern Core training facilities usually lasted for life even if they ended up as partners. At best they usually became loose friends and that only after years together. A year and a half later they got married. Two years after that they had Tysen, his mom had named him after her great-great-great-great grandfather Harral Tysen.

 

“Yes, sir,” Tysen said in a voice that mirrored the mortified look on his face.

 

The test was on Irraelian history, his second most hated subject, seeing that the teacher was a man he had knocked over in his hurry to get to class a year ago. Since, Mr. Kalan had sought out every opportunity to humiliate him further. Mr. Kalan was a man who could only be described as your run-of-the-mill bookworm, so it wasn’t hard for him to get knocked over by Tysen, a solid five foot nine almost seventeen year old boy with a slighter than average frame that disguises the well-toned muscles of one used to hard labor and practice.

 

With a sigh of at his misfortune at having to take this history class, he knuckled down and got back to the test, which was a shame since he usually loved history.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

 

 

“Okay,” said Ms. Daine, “today we are going to get to the topic all of you have been waiting for: Deallan Attributes.”

 

The Chevalier’s Core Preparation class broke into a resounding clamor of excite-ment. Tysen’s voice, being one of the loudest, actually broke into applause.

 

“How about someone raises their hand to volunteer to tell us what this section talks about,” said Ms. Daine with her usual enthusiasm.  
Tysen didn’t raise his hand, not because he didn’t know, he just wanted the teacher to continue the lesson. He was so excited that it was all he could do to sit still. This was his favorite class and he wanted to learn enough to get the highest marks possible on his Core Entrance Exam.

 

One of his classmates, Saiah, raised her hand, and without waiting began to tell the class about their lesson of the month. “This section talks about the different abilities a human’s Deallan Partner might possess.”

 

“Very good,” said Ms. Daine, settling fluidly into the subject, “a Deallan’s abilities fall into four basic categories: Elemental, Enhancement, Fighting, and Special Abilities or S.A.s. when you partner up with a Deallan and perform an integration you align your Aura signature to that of your Deallan partner. If you are compatible you’ll be able to harness the abilities of your partner’s Integrated Form. Each power has its own strengths and weaknesses. Learning to use one’s strengths to the fullest and making the most of one’s weaknesses is what shows a Chevalier’s prowess in his or her area of expertise as well as a mastery of their Aura. This portion of class will show you how to make the most of these powers and what they do.

 

“Now, the Elemental Attribute breaks down into the denominations of fire, water, earth, air, light, darkness, and thunder or, more accurately, lightning. Most of the time Deallans with the Elemental attribute end up in the Weapon-Based category and assist in the Battle Core. Aside from the transformation of the Chevalier’s weapon, they would gain the abilities of their Deallan’s element. The important thing to remember is that no two elemental attacks will be the same, even if they have the same element. This ap-plies to all Battle-type Deallans.

 

“Enhancers improve the Chevalier’s tool of choice to fulfill a certain purpose. Be-cause of this they could be categorized as either Battle- or Support-types. As the result, these Deallans’ abilities only make the tool’s given purpose more efficient and behave as such. Enhancement-types are usually chosen to help those on the Medical Staff and other jobs such as construction or, in special cases, the Shield Core’s infamous defen-sive weapons.

 

“Fighting-types are a more controversial group.” Ms. Daine said pointing to the chart she had hung as she spoke. “Their abilities also enhance the weapon they integrate with; the difference is that they also augment their human partner’s physical abilities as well, by use of a unique form of Aura manipulation. The physical power increase that the human receives would be, for instance, running faster than humanly possible, su-perhuman strength, or extremely good sight.

 

“Last but not least is the S.A. class this category is a bit more broad than the others. They can cause a physical condition, either in the user or their chosen target. Such conditions include things like poisoning or confusing opponents, hypnotism, or, in one case, immunity to pain. As such, S.A.s are usually chosen by assassins or spies, be-cause of these adverse abilities. Since they are so inconspicuous they are also used as hidden self-defense weapons for dignitaries and foreign ambassadors in response to the threat of assassins. They also include rarer abilities since a Deallan could, in theory, have any number of abilities. That being the case there are really too many to actually classify in any conventional manner. Now some of the more prominent partnered Deal-lan units in history were…”

 

As Ms. Daine continued to go through the lecture Tysen was day dreaming about what his partner would be like. He was so absorbed that he almost missed the bell that signaled the end of the school day. “Don’t forget, be ready for the Core Training en-trance exam next week, no class tomorrow,” Ms. Daine called after them as they left the classroom.

 

“Hey Tysen,” called Lynny, one of Tysen’s classmates, while she hurried up to catch him before he got too far off, “you’re going to have to find a shortcut to get home, Jack and his gang are planning to cut you off on Highland Street.” Tysen moaned as he slowed down to try and figure out how he could get around Jack and his gang. Jack Lendon, one of Tysen’s long standing enemies, was always, in his opinion, trying to “put that no good stuck-up in his place.” Of course Tysen doesn’t think that’s all of it, but since he can’t exactly ask him there has never been a reason to bring it up.

 

“Okay, I know, I’ll cut south and go around. That should do it, he was never too good at tracking so he shouldn’t be able to find me,” Tysen said, thinking out loud. “No, he’ll have someone over there to keep a lookout from the last time I gave him the slip. The only other way for me to avoid running into him is to go through the northwestern part of the forest and try to lose him there.”  
“Isn’t that really close to the area that the Core’s closed off?”

 

“Yeah, but that’s the only way I can get past Jack without tipping him off that I’m not going home the usual way.”

 

“Are you sure that is good idea? I mean, if you get caught, you could get into a lot of trouble with the Core before you even get enlisted!”

 

“So I won’t get caught,” Tysen said with a shrug and turned off to leave.

 

“Just be careful Tysen, I don’t want to have to bail you out of anything I don’t have to.” With that Lynny turned around and left.

 



 

“HEY, ARROWS!!” called Jack. “THOUGHT YOU COULD RUN?”

 

Uh oh, thought Tysen, guess I wasn’t as careful as I should have been. 

 

He broke into a run without taking a glance back since he knew that jack had proba-bly already been running after him. He tried to lose him before he hit the edge of town but since, like Tysen, Jack was raised in the city he knew his way around as well, if not better than Tysen.

 

By this time he was on the fringes of the forest. Jack had one of his friends keep an eye on him just in case Tysen somehow found out he was going to ambush him and re-turn to tell Jack where to go to catch him.

 

“Give it up!! There is nowhere left to run,” Jack said with a sneer.

 

Tysen only spared a second to glance and see how many members of Jack’s gang, known as the Black Cats, he dragged into going after him. About twenty, he thought, well, only one thing to do. With that he broke out into a sprint and ran into the forest.  
Jack saw what Tysen was about to do and started running after him just before he went into the forest. This wasn’t so much because he was ready for Tysen to try to run, as it was he was going to try to get to him before he had a chance to run. He had spent too long chasing him to let him get away. He wasn’t going to lose him again this time.

 

The chase only lasted about ten minutes, but it was long enough for Tysen to get hopelessly lost. He considered following after Jack and have him lead the way back to Rayll, the capital city of Irraelia, and take the back alleys out of town to the home of his foster parents. There was one problem with this plan that kept him from putting it in ac-tion – Jack was still looking for him. Jack was as stubborn as a mule and would not give up that easily.

 

So with that Tysen turned to the sun and tried to find another way back.

 



 

After a few hours he was getting tired when he saw something farther off in the for-est to his right. Light, he thought, must be a clearing. It would be easier to get his bear-ings if he could see where the sun was. I’m going to have to find some higher ground though, there’s someone already there. It would be bad if Jack found me just like that after I made sure I lost him earlier.

 

Luckily, there was a ridge that ran along one edge of the clearing that offered a per-fect spot to watch and see what was happening below. Tysen didn’t get to close to the edge until he could find some cover, which he found in the form of a tree with a great many leaves. The branches were thick and sturdy, there was no way that whoever was below would see him hiding there.

 

The valley clearing was larger than he had thought when he first saw it through the trees. It was roughly oval shaped with a very large river running along one edge and then disappearing into the forest. It is the Hylla, Tysen remembered with a jolt. That wasn’t all, the ground in the clearing and the plants on the very edge were scorched in various areas. There had been a fight here, he thought, his pulse quickening with the sudden observation, and not just any fight but a fight with at least one Wielder and his Deallan partner, maybe more but I can’t see from here.

 

He continued to look at the river and then with a sinking feeling he realized why that fact was nagging at him, he was in the very center of the restricted zone that the Core’s investigation squad, for that was what the designs on their uniforms revealed them as, had closed off. But this wasn’t the worst of it. Even from almost seventy feet up Tysen could tell, without a shadow of a doubt in his mind, something was down there and whatever it was it was important. Whatever it is, he thought with a shudder, looking at the tents on the far side of the clearing, almost out of sight, they aren’t leaving until they find it or make sure that whatever it is isn’t there.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

 

 

Detane Berna was the Core Investigation Squad’s Spymaster, the head of the C.I. Squad – as it was more often called – and the head warden of the crown prison. The king retained the right to be in total control of the prison that holds enemies of the crown, of course, but it was nearly the same thing since royalty only came down the pri-vate stairwell to the prison ward to pass judgment on convicted felons or perform the occasional prison check. Aside from that, Spymaster Berna had full run of the prison and all of its inhabitants.

 

At the moment, however, he was sitting on a rough backed stool in the center of the Hylla River Valley clearing that was known to be a favorite meditative space for James Carraln, the well known head of the Chevaliers. This was one of the reasons why Berna was here in the first place. Master Carraln was missing and along with him were his partner, Dan Kon, and a Core containment crate of odd proportions that was supposed to be in their possession. King Syra wouldn’t say what was in the containment crate; just that the contents of which were to be his top priority in the search. 

 

Of course Detane had no intention of undermining the king’s orders, but Master Car-raln was his mentor when he was younger and a good friend so Detane still felt a fond-ness for him. This is why his subordinates were told that finding Master Carraln and the box were both top priority, given that at least one could help lead them to finding the other. It was quickly becoming obvious to Detane that combing the clearing wouldn’t convey the answers he hoped for and that he would have to expand his search to include information coming through his spy network to see if rumors had been circulated about either (although hopefully not) Carraln’s death, capture, or sightings or word of someone finding an odd core unit. This by itself would pick up news given that everyone in Irraelia knows what a containment unit looks like and had probably seen one, at one point or another, and would know not to touch it. To find one of an odd shape and size would generate talk in all circles.

 

All he had discovered from his search was that when Master Carraln came through the clearing, shortly after he was followed by a team of what his team could only identify as assassins. They came through the clearing and were either confronted by or instigated a fight with him. Normally this wouldn’t have bothered Detane, the problem was he could see that there were far more scar marks from Master Carraln’s attacks then from the enemy’s. This meant that either he couldn’t focus for some reason, that there were too many to get a solid lock on any one of them, or they had a Deallan with some extraordinary abilities. Detane needed answers.

 

His plan was to follow all possible leads as doggedly as needed until all of the vari-ous ends met. His reputation as the head of the C.I. Squad had left quite a splash, he remembered allowing himself a small, almost bestial looking, smile. The C.I. Squad had, under the term of Detane’s predecessor, Byres McHail, been deemed the cloak-and-dagger faction of the royal government’s service when McHail began to use more covert practices in his years as the Spymaster. Soon rumors spread, for McHail made sure that it was impossible to gain any solid evidence or witnesses that would lead to the squad’s exposition, of horror stories that the C.I.s would use methods such as torture, blackmail, and espionage to weasel information out of the convenient rat holes that the guilty parties build for them to scurry into.

 

Detane, seeing no problem with a working system, continued with the practice to the day. A month after assuming the position of Spymaster, and getting used to the stress and duties of office, Detane began a campaign against the large gang groups that were the cause of most of the country’s larger crimes. Within six months he had captured somewhere between four and six hundred gang members, sixty crime bosses, and three gang leaders, the last being a major accomplishment, making him one of the most feared men in all of Irraelia’s darker circles, some even called him a genius.

 

The most feared, however, was Master Carraln. This only reignited the determination he felt for this case. I’ll use every ounce of force I possess if I have to, thought Detane, his voice fierce, even in his own mind. This case will not go unsolved! And with that he doubled the search parties and sent scouting teams up to the top of the cliff.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 

 

Tysen sat in the tree for another fifteen minutes staring at the odd swarm of black clad soldiers with varying numbers of silver bands to mark their rank. There were units all over the grounds working in four to six man teams, each sweeping an area roughly a quarter of an acre each. And more were coming out to help them! This would be a good time to use one of my lessons in class. Let’s see… where are the Deallans?

 

One of the techniques taught to those who train to become a member of the Core is to be able to feel the Aura flowing through living organisms. Tysen got a low grade on that part of class but still passed, not being the most observant student in school, he couldn’t feel the rivers of energy that flow through a person’s being strongly enough to get a good grade. But he could read the flow well enough to tell the difference between a regular human’s and Deallan’s Aura flow. There were at least an equal number of Deallan members in every search team if not a two to one ratio.

 

Tysen was curious about what they were searching for, the only problem was the longer he stayed the more certain he was that he needed to get out of there, and fast. He could sense more than see the scouts making their way up the narrow herd path on the far side of the cliff. All except for two of the scouting party were Deallan. Why would there be so many Deallans in a scouting party when their powers can only be used with the help of a regular human partner? Tysen wondered to himself, spying on the eight scouting members.

 

He forced himself to get up since he knew if he stayed there he would be discovered, and he had no intention of finding out if any of the rumors about the C.I. Squad were true. Tysen was in such a hurry climbing down out of the tree that he didn’t remember when he was climbing up and had broken a smaller limb of the willow that he had used to get to the higher branches. He gave a small yelp as he fell the rest of the twenty-three feet to the ground and landed with enough noise, his panic driven mind told him, to alert the scouts to his location. To his credit the branch was only halfway broken so when Tysen stepped on it to test its strength he thought it was ok to put his weight on it. Obviously he was wrong.

 

In a blind panic, Tysen began to run in the direction of the rock face he used to get to his vantage point. Before he could get away from the tree entirely he sunk through the dirt and into a hollowed out cavity on the other side of a main artery of the tree. There was no time to get out, if he tried to move he knew that he would be caught.

 

Tysen held his breath as three of the scouts passed by his impromptu hideout. Faces hidden in their masks to keep their identities secret from those they might encounter only made them look that much more frightening and inhuman. He waited for a count of twenty before moving around in the sink hole. The cavity was a head higher than he was in a sitting position and spanned a length wide enough for two grown men to sit side by side. Why is this here?, he thought lifting a strange crate out of one side of the hole, away from a tangle of roots, curling in an almost protective manner, around the crate. It was covered in dirt so he couldn't tell where it had come from, but small enough that he could carry it out with him on a strap against his back.

 

He took a look outside of the hole to check and see if the coast was clear. Seeing that there was no one in the general area, he jumped out and, after taking a quick look at the sun’s position, was on his way home.

 



 

“Tysen, is that you?” called Kiera, Tysen’s foster mom.

 

“Yeah, Mom, it’s me.” He winced as he considered how he was going to explain this one.

 

Tysen got home just after sundown, which wouldn’t have been out of the ordinary, except that Lynny came by and asked if he had gotten home yet. She asked what Lynny meant by that, only it would have been better if she had said nothing at all. Still, being one to talk she told his mom about his plan that he had intended to take the long way around to the southern House District and come straight home.

 

Rayll was separated into five districts: the House District, where the average middle class citizens live, the Mansion’s Quarter, for the higher class and royal elites’ houses when they are away from the palace, the housing for the lower class such as servants and those who were unemployed was known as the Dragon’s Teeth. The other two districts are the market and the Bridge Barrier which is the quartering for all of the Chevalier’s Core recruits and officers, which is at the edge of the city but also has an under-ground river system that is used for quick deployment all around the city.

 

Tysen has only ridden on the river system once, even though he enjoyed it, they took a speeding underground river that is used for emergency deployment. It was a treat for the kids on the trip for being well behaved as a bonus for Tysen to see that even the great Jack Lendon couldn’t handle the ride well. Overall it was a good day. He lost his lunch but it wasn’t as bad as it could have been either since he wasn’t the only one.

 

His foster mom was worried after receiving the news from that as well but Tysen had a feeling that he had more immediate problems to deal with.

 

“Well, where were you?” he realized that there had been an uncomfortable pause for a while he was daydreaming and not answering.  
“Jack Lendon was going to ambush me on the way home, so I took a longer route to get here but he found me anyway.” Using a half-truth he thought would at least get him out of some trouble if she somehow found out what had really happened. “I managed to get away from him, but I got lost and it took me a while to make my way back to town.”

 

At this she visibly relaxed, showing just how worried she was about him and he immediately felt bad for lying to her. The only thing that stopped him from telling her the truth was the thought of the punishment he would receive when she told his dad, Derans, of the near social suicide that he could have caused. “Fair enough,” she said at last, straightening her dress, “Now, come and eat dinner before it gets cold.”

 

With a mumbled word of agreement and a brief sigh of relief at his forethought to stop by his bedroom window and throw his newly discovered crate into the clay tile topped box that jutted out under his window. At the table was a small cauldron beef and vegetable stew with a basket of some old bread rolls to dip. His dad came in shortly af-\ter and joined them. With very little small talk at the table, Tysen almost hurriedly finished his food and excused himself from the table under the claim that he was tired from the day’s adventures. To say that was an understatement, after all that had happened and having a decent meal afterwards he was finding it hard to keep his eyes open.

 

He climbed the stairs and turned to his room on the right, brought the crate inside and was asleep before he hit the pillow. Tired as he was, Tysen didn’t notice the crate, in the open chest, was shining with a faint glow that looked surprisingly like reflected light that could well have been mistaken for moonlight, except the crate was shadowed by his bed.


	5. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

 

 

That same night, about an hour before midnight, most travelers on the main Irraelian highway had settled in for the night so that they could be well refreshed in the morning to head to their destinations. Actually only one person was on the road at that time, traveling on a handsome gray mare with an unusual eight point starburst on her nose. Covered in a simple hooded cloak and standard traveler’s clothes, it could have been anyone passing on the well populated central road, the main that sprawled over the whole of Irraelia.

 

Mizura was the one and only child of Nath and Canna Strongarm, as well as the niece of James Carraln. The only reason a girl of sixteen would be traveling down a road at such a late hour was because of a hastily written letter she received two days earlier. It read: 

 

To My Dearest Niece,  
By the time you read this you will have realized that I have disappeared. I am sorry that I cannot send you more of a correspondence then I have. How I would have loved to tell you exactly what is going on in the capital. That would, however, put you in more trouble than I am already about to ask of you to undertake, I am afraid.

Forgive me for being so cryptic but do you remember the story I once told you of our great river the Hylla? If so, then follow my next instructions to the letter. I need you to go to my tree and look in a knot in its trunk. You will find that there is an instrument there, a seeker. Use it to play a game of hide and seek, and when you have the sweets return home and await another letter from me in two months time. You should understand how in-credibly important this is Mizura, do not try to find me and, whatever you do, stay safe and make sure that no one finds out what you have retrieved. My time is up, dear heart, protect yourself and keep out of trouble. Travel only by night. I wish you well and pray that my precautions are unnecessary, until we meet again.

Love Your Caring Uncle,

James

 

She read the letter over and over for the past four nights on her way to Rayll. She immediately knew what it was she was to do when she arrived in the capital: her uncle had asked her to find the Sword of the Dragon, the mystic blade that was said to be in-fused with the power from a hundred Deallans, giving the wielder incredible strength, or such was the stories that still circulated, her uncle never told her what it really did if he even knew. She was to go to the Hylla River Valley clearing; following the cliff line to the willow that was her uncle’s favorite resting place to the knob where she had hidden messages for him and from him for her. There she would retrieve a Finder, a crystal device in a wooden casing used to find crates belonging to the Chevalier’s Core. After locating the crate, she was to hole up somewhere safe and await his further instructions.

 

Whether she would obey her uncle and not go after him was left to be seen, priority number one was to find the crate though. Everything else would work itself out after that. They had to. She was sure of it. By the time the sun rose in two days’ time she would be in Rayll.

 



 

On the outskirts of the Hylla Valley clearing, on a raised hill a quarter-mile away, a company of warriors, discernable by the strange coat of arms, a rampant iridescent green lion, that they wore in various places on their cloaks, tunics, breeches and as tattoos stood or sat in a rough circle just under the peak of the hill on the far side. Thirteen of the warriors watched as one of them, a tall man with sharp yet handsome features and red hair so dark it was comparable to the color of blood. Kayl, the head of the Order of Emerald Lions looked at his subordinates in turn.

 

“It would seem we have a problem,” said the severe yet quiet voice that was known to be Kayl’s trademark way of speaking. “The S.I.’s came faster than I had anticipated,” he said contemplatively, “and chasing Carraln took more time out of my schedule than I planned. He obviously hid the blasted crate somewhere in the clearing while we were chasing him.”

 

If the leader of the order was expecting a reaction he was sadly disappointed for the information stirred not one of his companions. “So the question remains,” he said, pausing for effect, “what do we do now?”

 

“It’s obvious isn’t it,” voiced one of the members around the circle, from Kayl’s position he couldn’t get a good view of the speaker though he couldn’t really care less, he just needed a verdict to give to the queen when he made his report. “We sneak in there and do some searching of our own. Those amateurs down there couldn’t find a convict if they were strapped to their backs!”

 

“Don’t put them down so quickly,” said another. “Remember, they got here ahead of our schedule so we really don’t know how good they are. On top of that Carraln killed our seeker so there is no way that we can analyze their abilities. We have to be more cautious in our approach.”

 

“A vote, then,” returned the first, “all in favor of searching the clearing come forward.”

 

Six came forward; six remained seated, one stood off to the side making it completely clear that she was separate. From his position he could plainly see the woman who stood away from the group was Megarina, but everyone called her Rina, not be-cause she was nice or because a friend gave it to her but because to call her by her full name was to end up dead if they are outside of the order, if they were a member they ended up with broken bones and nightmares for weeks. She was, quite possibly the third or fourth strongest member of the group. Maybe even the second, Kayl mused, seeing as how Jakill the Hound was dead. Her face had almost angelic features and her physique was buxom but her sleeveless uniform showed the muscle tone of a hardened warrior.

 

“Yes, Rina, do you have a different opinion?” asked Kayl.

 

“No,” Rina said, her voice matching her looks, “but I agree with both of them, I think that we should go and search the clearing but I also think that it would be extremely risky to look where there are already so many of Irraelia’s Chevaliers. What I think we should do is head out there and search but up on the cliff where there has been very few Chevaliers, scouts probably, and search. Plus we’ll have a perfect vantage point to keep an eye on the Irraelians and we’ll know if they find the Sword.”

 

Silence ruled for a time, but was soon broken when Kayl motioned for a second vote. It came back unanimous, the thirteen members headed for the cliff in the east while Kayl traveled south, he was going to contact the Queen Mirana, ruler of the Sierrnan crown and Kayl’s mother.

 



 

The base of the hill contained a small niche hidden under a set of boulders that resembled a rock quarry; there an entrance to a small cave that was discovered during Kayl’s early scouting parties. This was where he decided to make camp for the night and to make contact with the queen. From his pocket he withdrew a small glass orb no larger than his fist, and began the process to call his mother. These orbs were called Skye Spheres in honor of the Deallans who first discovered how to make them by the same name.   
Activating the orb was a simple matter. All that was needed was to send a burst of Aura into the sending orb and the pulse travels along a thin Aura thread to the awaiting sister orb. The receiving orb would send out a high pitched alarm to get the owner’s attention. Such items were usually hard to make and were extremely hard to come by, and yet the Sierrnan crown had a small storage rooms worth, the fact that you could ideally use one Skye Sphere to contact as many as ten others at the same time made the room worth its weight in gold. Where this room was he couldn’t be sure and was never told its location. It was rightly so, since Kayl would have stolen a number of sets to use for himself and eventually he would sell them to the highest bidder. Being the prince would only make this easier as his mother knew.

 

Concentrating on the orb while picturing his mother he sent an Aura burst through the sphere momentarily making it shine a brilliant orange before going dark. Within seconds the figure of a dark-haired woman with a severe face and a regal air appeared on the face of the orb. Immediately upon seeing Kayl her expression softened and lost its annoyance.

 

“My dear, Kayl,” his mother exclaimed, while still holding the demeanor of an unyielding monarch. “Where on earth are you? It looks like a rat’s nest!”

 

Kayl smirked, “Well, mother it is a cave. I contacted you to let you know the Order’s report.”

 

Mirana’s look hardened into one of official business for the crown, “Proceed,” She said.

 

“We successfully managed to infiltrate the country of Irraelia and upon making con-tact with our informant closed in on the location of the Sword at the residence of James Carraln.” Kayl intoned in the way of debriefing he was trained in his whole life. Mirana’s eyes rose in amusement at the mention of the leader of the Chevaliers. There was a story there that he could never weasel out of his mother. “The house was well fortified but couldn’t withstand the force of our assault for long. At which point he left his home and made for the forest on the western edge of the city. We left four members of the Order to search the house while I and the others went after Carraln.

 

“He broke through into the forest on the western side of the city and somehow through use of an illusion based decoy managed to gain a five minute lead.” He looked annoyed at that, Mirana noticed. “During which time he managed to hide the Sword.” Now she knew why, the look she gave him could have peeled off his skin if it were possible. 

 

“Have you managed to find it again?” she asked.

 

“No, Majesty, but we are in the immediate area of where it was left.”

 

“Why has it not been retrieved, then?” the annoyance in her voice returning in force with more than a little condescendence.

 

“The Tracker followed the trail into a large clearing. He said that Carraln had not made any stops nor had he met with anyone on the way. He was sure that the Sword was hidden there somewhere. The cave that I’m reporting from is right on the edge of that clearing.”

 

At that she calmed down slightly, “You are getting off subject. Continue.”

 

Realizing that was as close to a reprieve that he was going to get, he did. “The Sword is here, the others went to go find it.”

 

“What of James?”

 

“Dead. Killed in battle, he was attempting to throw us off the scent. Unfortunately he took out our Tracker and severely injured two others before we got to him.”

 

“Why wait so long to go search for it?” The look in her eyes mirrored his thoughts: he was hoping she wouldn’t notice. She did.

 

He answered promptly, since anything else would result in severe punishment. “I felt it unnecessary to mention but the Chevalier’s Core Investigators Squad made it here before us and forced us into a retreat to avoid discovery just before we could begin an early search in the valley.”

 

The queen was furious, she couldn’t believe that “her own son could be so stupid as to nearly get caught by such an inferior security force as the Irraelian I.S.” she would have continued her rant but was interrupted.

 

“Kayl we have a problem!” Rina burst into the cave sparing any preamble there might have been.

 

Rina had found him too quickly for his liking, given that this was supposed to be a location no one else knew about. He was going to have to investigate that later. “Yes, what do you want Megarina?” being the leader and the strongest member of the Order, he could get away calling her by her full name. Though he only used it when he was severely annoyed.

 

The twitch in her eye didn’t change the tone in her voice, “We found the place where the Sword was hidden!” Seeing that Kayl was about to interrupt she hurried up with the rest of the report. “Yeah we found it, but the crate’s been moved! The I.S. doesn’t have it that much I can tell but someone took it all the same.”

 

“We have to find it, that much is required but if at all possible try to make sure no one discovers it was moved or better yet that it was here at all!”

 

She gave a salute in the Seirnnan fashion, which was to place the first two fingers of the right hand to the corner of the right eye, and went to wait for further orders to be given.

 

The Queen, having heard everything, said only this, “Retrieve the Sword, fail me again and you will no longer have to worry about your duties as head of the Order.” With that she severed the connection.

 

Kayl sat there in a cold sweat for what seemed like an eternity. That was the only outward sign of unease he allowed himself. He knew he couldn’t fail her again or much more than his position in the Order was at stake. She was generous in her rewards for success but ruthless in her punishments for failure, he wouldn’t or rather couldn’t allow himself think of the consequences for failing an assignment this important. He may have been crown prince of Seirrn but he had no delusion that his mother would too terribly mind having and molding a new prince after a “tragic accident” that would end his life. His country has a common saying these days, “there are worse fates than death under Mirana’s rule.”


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

 

 

Mizura was riding through the capital of Rayll just as the sun came over the mountains in the far north. As she rode she pondered over her uncle’s letter and on the next part of her continuing quest. The seeker she needed to find was in the Hylla clearing roughly one sixth of a day’s journey to the west of the city. She would make it just be-fore the midday meal if she stopped to rest at an inn or tavern on that side of the city.

 

She only just realized her predicament of needing a guide through the city when she reached the middle of town, in a large market plaza where she and her mount were as inconspicuous as flies around a pile of horse dung. She had left with fewer coins in her purse than she would have liked, not wanting to jingle when she left her parents’ house two and a half days past. This meant that she would have to find a tavern willing to barter with a tightfisted youth for a day and a night’s sleep with some menial supplies to keep her and her mount, Southern Star, on the morning of their return trip home.

 

Heaving a sigh of misfortune she had nearly continued on through the city when she spotted movement on her right side. Having caught her interest she turns almost all the way around in her saddle to see what the commotion was about. In an alley about five horse-lengths to her right she saw a tight nit group of children close to her own age and all wearing similar outfits, black tunics, light brown leggings and soft leather shoes that looked more like boots, circling around another boy in similar dress with a cat’s eye on the back of his tunic. She leaned over a bit and could see that there was another boy with black hair. He was wearing a soft green tunic with black leggings and a light cloak given that they were well into the autumn season. The most shocking thing about him, though, was his eyes. They were a silvery greenish brown that edged on a color like uncut jade.

 

Even from where she was sitting she could tell that this wasn’t a friendly gathering. The large boy in the cat’s eye tunic was sneering at the other kid and pushed him towards the circle which promptly pushed him back to his original starting point. The look in the green eyed boy’s eyes was one of old routine abuse and a surprising glint of mischief, like he had a well kept secret from otherwise hungry ears. Maybe it was this look that spurred her into action maybe it was the thought that her uncle would have stepped in without a moment’s hesitation or any number of her own morals or memories of get-ting picked on or any combination of those reasons. This is crazy, she thought. She might have added something else but she was already riding into the churning mass of children.

 



 

The day that Tysen was chased into the forest and found that peculiar crate was also the last day at his school before the Chevalier’s Core Recruit Entrance Exam began. The exam lasts for five days and covers four subjects: Physical prowess, mental skills, partner synchronization, and the Tournament. And after the last day of school there is a three day period for the participants to prepare themselves in whatever way they can for the exams.

 

Physical prowess shows the judges your strength, speed, endurance, and reflexes. Mental skills test your intelligence, bravery, leadership, partnership, thinking under pressure and problem solving. Partner synchronization gauges your ability to synchronize with a Deallan or human because both have to apply equally. Final partnerships are decided after training by a Deallan and human by consent of each after the Journey of Comrades is passed. The Tournament is at the end of the exams so that the newly formed partner sets can cement their relationship and so they can find their own fighting style. The Tournament takes two days two complete, the preliminaries on the first day and the finals, the semi-finals and the award ceremony on the second. This also shows the recruits their ranking in their troupe.

 

That was two days ago.

 

A day and a half before the start of the exams Tysen was in the Market district shopping for his parents. He left at dawn so that he would have time to wander around and look at all the different stalls selling colorful, and sometimes useless, wares to tourists and more practical items further off the main to the residents of Rayll. Not very far off in the distance the palace rose above the other buildings. With almost one hundred and fifty horse-lengths across on all sides the palace, in reality, looked more like a wide tower than a normal palace. It had over thirty floors going skyward and an unknown amount of underground floors and tunnels that run throughout the south and east quarters of the city.

 

He was still wandering through the market stalls when he was suddenly jerked back into a side alley that was well concealed from most of the plaza. Tysen himself hadn’t noticed it until he was being dragged back through it. When he was finally dropped to the ground four horse-spans in, he saw who his captors were. He might as well have ventured a guess. Around him in a rough circle were almost thirty kids probably his age or a little older wearing black-clad tunics and each, from what he could see, had a cat’s eye tattoo on their upper forearm. In the circle with him, Jack Lendon had his back turned and he was talking to one of the Black Cats that made up the circle.

 

“Well, Tysen,” Jack said in mock surprise. “What a coincidence running into you here! Having a nice day at the market?”

 

His smile was so oily you could have greased the axles on a hundred carts and still not run out.

 

“What do you want Jack?” Tysen was really not in the mood for any grudge matches today.

 

“What I wanted two days ago,” he said with an attempt at loftiness. “I came to tell you that one way or another you are not entering the recruitment exam.”

 

Any thought Tysen had that didn’t involve that particular moment fell into the silence that followed after Jack’s challenge.

 

“That’s not funny Jack,” Tysen said, his voice edging on a threat.

 

“And I’m not laughing,” Jack had lost all of his false humor.

 

“I am going to enter this year, and I’m going to become a Chevalier no matter what you or anyone else tries to do.” The determination in Tysen’s voice was the hardest anyone there had ever heard, it surprised Tysen himself.

 

“Or what?” Jack sneered with as much contempt as he could muster. “There are thirty three Black Cats here, including myself. What, do you think you could hold us all off long enough to call for help?”

 

“Try it and find out,” said Tysen. Still, he could tell that if he didn’t come up with something fast Jack’s prediction just might come true.  
Just then the kids that made up the part of the circle facing away from the plaza scattered as a large stallion ran through the center of the grouping of kids and circled around Tysen himself. “Come on!” the rider on top of the horse yelled.

 

Seeing this as his chance of escape, he jumped on without a second thought. As they turned and cantered away, Tysen turned around in his seat just once in order to get a good look at the confusion on Jack’s face.

 



With the Green-Eyed Boy’s direction he and Mizura wove their way through winding alleys and even narrower streets. They rode alternately through the best and worst parts of Rayll. Mizura didn’t know where she was being led, though honestly she had lost all sense of direction the third street into their impromptu escape. Southern Star didn’t seem to share her unease, maintaining an easy trot through the uneven back streets and side alleys. Green-Eyes was another matter altogether, riding just in front of her she couldn’t see his face but his Aura showed the tension he was trying to hide. She knew it was impolite to read other peoples Auras without their permission but the boy was so good at concealing his thoughts and emotions that if she didn’t know better she might have thought she was riding behind a stone instead of a person.

 

Opening her senses she was able to feel what her other senses couldn’t tell her. He was clearly relieved that he had avoided his scrape with the other kids. His relief was tinged by the knowledge that they would come after them and then try again. He was suspicious of her as well. He was trying to work through why she had rushed in at just the right moment and saved him from danger. What was in it for her, she could see him thinking. Was there going to be some over-large debt to repay? She could clearly outline the plotlines of his thought patterns with her Aura reading.

 

Then Green-Eyes turned in the saddle and spoke suddenly. “Are you done reading me yet?” he asked. “I’m just as likely to tell you out loud what you just saw from me anyway,” he stated matter-of-fact.

 

Mizura was blushing furiously while he turned in the saddle, she hadn’t even considered that he might be able to sense the Auras like she could. “Where are we going?” she finally asked when curiosity won out over embarrassment.

 

“Around by my house,” was his answer. “Its one of the few places Jack wouldn’t dare to try and come after me.”

 

“Who?”

 

“Jack Lendon. He was the one you saw with the ridiculous cat’s eye on his jacket.”

 

“Oh,” Mizura was almost as worried about knowing the destination as not. Unable to think of what might await her and unwilling to try reading the boy again she remained quiet for the rest of the ride. That wasn’t very long as it turned out. A moment after they broke off their conversation, if you could call it that, they emerged onto a major thoroughfare and shortly after that he stopped in front of a three level home that looked comfortable enough to house seven people. The top floor could have been an attic but she could see drapes in the top floor windows.

 

“How many people live here?” she asked.

 

“Just me and my parents,” he said pulling into the small stable around the side, “but we double as a small Inn and tavern. Plus, we get plenty of personal friends who like to spend the night.”

 

Green-Eyes lead her up a set of stairs off of the stable and into a side hallway that let off into the main room of the first floor.

 

“Wait in here,” he said and walked off to where she guessed the stairs were.

 

While she was waiting she looked back on everything that happened in the past two marks. All the while an idea began to form in the back of her mind. By the time he came back with some food, water flasks, and a satchel over one shoulder she was ready to confront him.


	7. Chapter 6

Chapter 6

 

 

Tysen was still in a state of shock when he got back home. The past couple of marks had been the best thing that could have happened, having a person who didn’t even really know who he was come up and rescue him. That alone was good since that meant Jack couldn’t find a way to hurt her either. When they got inside he left her in the dining hall and went upstairs to the kitchens to grab some supplies for her as a thank you gift. He found some day old rolls, a packet of candied fruit, and a few traveler’s pies, which he knew would be the best for her since she looked like she might be on her journey for a while longer still, especially since his mom made sure that any travelers who come through looking for provisions gets a full meal stuffed into any one of the pies she makes.

 

With that he went in search of some water flasks and a silver double from his weekly pay from helping various neighbors with the odd project they may have for him. With the large amount of people who come through daily there is always something to do.

 

When he came back downstairs he found her sitting in a window seat looking at the people as they cross the road back and forth going about their day. When he was close enough for her to hear him coming she turned around and stood from her chair.

 

Before he could tell her what was in the satchel she came forward put a money sack in his hand and said, “I want you to be my guide through the city.”

 

Tysen was dumbstruck over the strange turn of events. “What do you mean your guide?”

 

“I need a guide to get me through the city,” she said while pacing the floor, seeming to try and convince herself as much as him. “I need someone who knows all of the city well enough to get me through the city and through the forest on the other side of Rayll and back again before tomorrow evening.

 

“That’s half of what I’m willing to pay you for your services. You’ll get the other half when we get back through the city.”

 

He had completely forgotten about the money. “How much is in here anyway?” he asked still unsure of where this was going.

 

“Twelve crown doubles,” she answered over her shoulder. She was looking through the satchel Tysen had brought with him.

 

He, meanwhile, was looking at the bag in his hand as if it had grown wings and began to fly. He’d never held so much as two crowns in his life, and here she was flinging them around like they were trinkets! He wasn’t going to turn down any offer to make twenty four crowns for a little tour guide work. He was so deep in thought he missed her next words. “What was that?” he asked.

 

“I said, do you think this is enough to last two people for two days?”

 

“Oh, not really. It was just a thank you from me originally, but since I’ll be your guide for the next couple of days I’ll grab some more supplies,” he was already halfway up the stairs. His first stop was back in the kitchens, grabbing more traveler’s pies and a large water skin to put with the horse’s saddle bags. Then he went back to the stairs and went to the third floor. Last room on the right, he reminded himself. He switched rooms often enough that he had to keep reminding himself which one was his.

 

He settled on taking three changes of clothes. That, with his dad’s old hunting knife he’d gotten for his last birthday, and his forest kit with steel and flint, a tinderbox, some seasonings for any wild game he might catch, light bandages, and his bedroll were all he took. His training to be a Wielder had taught him enough to survive the wilds if he had to, he’d even done it once trying to stay away from Jack he fled to the plains on the southern end of the city and stayed overnight to make sure he could come back unscathed. Of course his dad had nearly gutted him for the worry he caused his mom but when they sorted it all out it resulted in Jack not being allowed on their street at all. He still smiled at the memory.

 

On his way out of the room his eyes glanced down at the crate in the corner of the room. A sudden urge made him want to open it, he thought better of it when he remembered the strange girl downstairs. Instead, he decided to take the crate with him. Wrapping it up in his bedroll so that it wasn’t in plain view he finally made his way downstairs.

 



 

Mizura sat in the dining room patting herself on the back for her sudden turn of good luck. To think, she thought, here I was wishing I had a guide and I save the perfect candidate! She giggles at the thought.

 

Green-Eyes is gonna take me right to the old tree and then I’ll find the Sword. Too bad I couldn’t tell my parents what I was up to… she thought back to the night she left a week ago. She had wanted to leave the night when she first read the letter, however, she waited another day to make sure her parents wouldn’t get suspicious. Her father was the biological link between her and her uncle. That’s where the relationship ends though. Some years back her father and Uncle James had a big argument.

 

She was too young to remember what it was about but she could remember the angry faces in the room. She should have been in bed, a half mark after sunset was her curfew, but Mizura was having trouble sleeping, she had wanted to ask her mom to make some bed-time tea for her, a special blend of tealeaves that her uncle had brought as a gift when he found out about her insomnia. It always sent her to bed with the sweetest dreams, but on this night, on her way to the kitchens, she passed by the office her father used as his receiving room for his private guests, he was a scribe by trade.

 

The door was open which was unusual by itself. He never left the door open, so she went to take a look and finally find out what was on the other side of the mystery door. When she got to the door, she forgot to look at anything but the two figures of her father and uncle angry and arguing in a whisper. She couldn’t say how long she sat there and watched them argue but she watched in horror as her father struck Uncle James and started yelling at him in earnest. Overwhelmed, she hurried off to her room and hid under her coverlet, all thoughts of sleep gone from her mind. She thought she had been discovered but the next day her dad acted like nothing had happened and Uncle James hadn’t stayed over like he usually would when he visited and only her father was awake.

 

Within a month he was back for a social visit but he no longer stayed at their home and almost always took Mizura on trips with him rather than stay longer than necessary. With time all memories of that night glazed over and covered with dust, before long she almost couldn’t remember a time when she hadn’t gone with her uncle on some journey or other.

 

Breaking from her reverie, she heard footsteps on the stairway. Three seconds later the boy emerged from the next room.

 

“Before we go,” he said, “is there anything else in particular that we need?”

 

“Not that I can think of but I’ll buy it if its important enough.” She said offhand.

 

“Oh, that’s fine. My name’s Tysen.”

 

“Mizura.”

 

“Now that the pleasantries are out of the way are you ready to go?”

 

“Of course”

 

“Good, well… where are we going?”


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

 

 

Iri and Irae, the royal Twins, were named in honor of their future as co-rulers of Irraelia. Iri, the eldest and a girl, was to be queen. Irae, her younger brother by a half mark was destined to become head adviser and the spymaster’s direct superior, he would be Iri's right hand on the throne. Together they sat in their parents’ Throne Room hiding away from all the nobles who had come to wish them well and attempts at making alliances of convenience that only really convenience those from the noble houses. For both siblings being twins with the other was a good thing, no one could really tell one of them something that the other wouldn’t learn as well, by way of one simply telling the other later in the day or by the telepathic link that all twins share on some level or another. Iri and Irae, however, could use this link at will and over quite long distance when they had to, although they tried to avoid separating if at all possible. Their training as Chevalier’s Core warriors helped to make it so that they could not only talk to each other but could send pure thoughts, feelings, and images from one to the other.

 

Knowing all this it isn’t surprising that you find the two occasionally giggling or snorting at seemingly nothing at all. The twins were written off as odd at a very young age and never given a second thought. If there were anyone to see them in the Throne Room at that moment you’d be seeing a similar sight yourself.

 

“I want to get out of the Palace,” said Iri while tracing the engravings on the side of her father’s chair.

 

“How? I’ve never seen so many guards in one place before.” Irae was by the window looking west, out into the forest.

 

Iri snorts, “Put on your training gear,” she said. “Mother would never recognize you.”

 

She laughs as she feels his annoyance and laughs harder when he realizes she’s probably right.

 

“…Alright, I can see how that works,” Irae thought remembering how hard it was for them to find each other by sight those first few months, but still miffed that he hadn’t thought of it first. “Where should we go?” He asked her.

 

“What are you looking at?” She asked him.

 

“The Nest Forest… wait, you want to visit that clearing don’t you!” Irae’s head was spinning at the possibilities of where they could go now that they were no longer considered too young to be alone.

 

The Twins were both giddy at the though of a small taste of freedom in and around the city. They chaffed at an early age at the necessity of an entourage of guards shad-owing them and keeping them from exploring certain areas of the city. The reason why the forest was such an appeal was that they were always forbidden to go there when they were little. Even though the forest was patrolled by the Forest Guard, a division of the Core that was charged with protecting the city from rogue animals and monsters that live there, it was still a dangerous place to go if you aren’t trained to fight.

 

“So how are we getting out of here, Iri?”

 

She grins and looks toward the heavy door of the throne room, “Well, I guess we can just walk out the front door.”

 

And she walked off to her room without another word.

 



 

Dressed in their loose woolen training gear, which consisted of a thick, patched tunic, heavy leather breeches, and soft leather shoes with thicker, tougher leather for the soles they could have been anyone. Iri was very well pleased with her plan and had gone to change immediately with her brother trailing slightly after. Of course they never really left out the great doors at the front of the palace but took to a servants’ door that let out into the market district of town.

 

The City was planned in a succession of concentric circles. The center being the palace and the land surrounding it for almost a half league before you reached the pal-ace walls that were ten fathoms in height and just as thick. That land around the palace was used to house barracks for the palace guard, the long barn that holds the stables, and on the far end a communal room for the stable boys to sleep in, as well as a large open space of grass that was used for tournaments, proclamations, and training grounds for the palace guard. 

 

The inner most ring around the castle held the townhouses of the land's nobles in the Mansion's Quarter and the homes and businesses of Rayll's merchant class. The nobles kept to themselves for the most part and resided on the northern and eastern sides of the ring. The merchants took up residency in the remaining southern and western portions of the Inner Ring with stalls and banners and their various wares lining every street. Surrounding the Inner Ring wasn't a wall but a man-made trench that spanned forty fathoms across and eight fathoms deep where you saw a long deep moat of running water from the Hylla River at the bottom. The merchants and the other citizens use it as the highway for trade and transportation to and from the heart of the city on ferries. Spanning the riverway were bridges that lifted on the palace side of the river. Not only for allowing taller ships to pass through the river but as an additional line on defense against invaders.

 

Next was the Outer Ring. Here the House District made up the vast majority of the remaining city where those who farmed the land outside the walls, tended livestock, worked inns, or the families of those who made a living as royal and noble servants lived. The northeastern section was the slums for those citizens who were either down on their luck or didn't make enough to afford better housing. That is where the criminals of Rayll called home and dubbed it the Dragon's Teeth early on. Here the lowlifes, the down-trodden, and the disabled begged, stole, and cheated each other and those in the House District for survival.

 

On the edge of this ring was the outer wall. Standing seven fathoms tall and twenty fathoms deep, it surrounds the entirety of Rayll's human population. Built onto the walls were watchtowers standing an extra five fathoms high and spaced fifty fathoms apart all around the wall. This is known as the Bridge Barrier, where the cities defenders, the Chevaliers' Core, had their homes. Built right on and into the walls this made it the cities first line of defense. The city had been built with defense in mind, Iri and her brother had spent an entire week going over the design and planning of the city with her instructor while in the mountains about two years ago. So she knew every crevice the city had to offer even if they hadn't traversed them in person. The main streets were planned in a series of spirals running parallel to one another so that invading forces would have a harder time getting to the palace by being forced to march through most of the city and its defenders.

 

Irae shook his head when he saw the thoughts that were running through his sister's head. Their instructors had been very thorough in their schooling so he couldn't blame her for it. On top of that she was supposed to be the queen some day, so it was probably kind of appropriate, he thought.

 

“Got that right.” Iri said into his mind. He hadn't realized she had pulled out of her reverie and was listening in on his own thoughts.

 

He turned to look at her, “Okay, genius.” He said out loud. “Do you plan to take the main road all the way to the west gate or what?”

 

“Nooooooo,” she said drawing out the word while she thought. “Let's see if the fer-ries are running to the edge of town. That way all we have to do is follow the river into the forest.”

 

“That could work,” Irae said looking towards the riverway. “I think we need some-thing else too.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“Well if we were to go out of the city on our own it would look kind of suspicious, right? We don't look like people who would just go out of the city on a regular basis. We'd get stopped by the guards at the gate.”

 

Iri bit her lip, “So what do you think we should do?” she asked, she didn't want to cut her trip short for anything.

 

“Well there's bound to be tons of people who do leave town on a daily basis. Let's wait for another group to head through the gate and go with them.”

 

Iri kissed him on the cheek with glee. Irae promptly wiped his face, scowling to try and hide a blush he clears his throat and starts for the riverway. Skipping, Iri follows only a few steps behind.

 



 

“Sir, welcome to Rayll,” said the on duty guard by the western gate. “Any particular business you plan to pursue while in town?”

 

She stared at the man with the blood-red hair as he shuffled around in place and gave her a smile. “Oh, not much. Someone said that a package I wanted came here by mistake and I had to come by to pick it up.”


End file.
